Senator Joel Villanueva urged the government to consider rolling out home and drive-thru vaccinations for senior citizens.
Villanueva's proposals come on the heels of the World Immunization Week which starts Saturday, April 24, saying these are the "safest and most convenient" mode of inoculation for the group most at-risk to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Many Filipinos 60 years old and above are unable to leave their homes, the senator noted. He also raised that a lot of senior citizens have no one to accompany them to vaccination centers.
“Some are sick, or are physically incapacitated. For these people, a drive-thru system where they can remain in the comfort of their vehicles would be a good idea,” Villanueva said in his statement Friday, April 23.
But the best option, he said, “is home delivery."
"If they cannot go to the vaccines, let the vaccines come to them,” he added.
Villanueva also said that the elderly are "aliens" to online registration, complicating matters for them.
If without cars, the senior citizens can hail a tricycle or pedicab to the drive-thru vaccination sites, he said.
"Mas mabuti naman po iyon kumpara sa ilang oras kang nakasakay sa monobloc (It's better than having them seated on monobloc chairs for hours)," Villanueva pointed out.
In pushing his proposals, the lawmaker said that if more senior citizens remain high-risk for contracting the coronavirus, their hospitalization could put more strain on “our already overstretched public health system.”
The World Health Organization has warned that COVID-19 is often more severe in people 60 years and older due to health conditions like lung or heart diseases, diabetes or conditions that affect their immune system.
Inoculations are currently ongoing for senior citizens, who are the second in the government's vaccination program, next to frontline health workers.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. had said that four million senior citizens were initially in their master list, but said the figure could increase to nine million.
As of April 20, Galvez said 132,948 senior citizens have received their first COVID-19 jab.